Microfiction on Socrates

In order to shortly revise the topic discussed in class, I have invited my students to start writing microfiction, following an assignment that I give them each week.


Sometimes called flash fiction, microfiction is the practice of writing a story or an idea in as few words as possible. At the University of Essex, it is used by Learning and Development to help students develop the skill to write concisely. In their workshops, they challenge students to write down a story or big idea in 10 words or fewer.

For students, putting down their thoughts and ideas concisely is an important skill when it comes to writing essays and dissertations. When writing an essay, it is important that they articulate their idea(s) clearly. Practising microfiction will help them do that.

The class under discussion is PY111 Introduction to Philosophy at the University of Essex. I teach two separate classes, on Fridays, a total of 22 students. This term, we will be reading Plato's Meno very closely, tackling not just the question of human virtue, but also of Socrates's methods of enquiry and the age-old philosophical question: what is philosophy?

Last week, we started reading the first few pages of the Meno, which involved a study of the character of Meno, the character of Socrates, and some preliminary thoughts on virtue, or human excellence.



At the end of the class, I proposed the following assignment for my students:

In 10 words or fewer, write down what sort of character Socrates is.

OR

In 10 words or fewer, express how there is the universal in ethical relativism.

Here are the results of my students putting their brain at work for 5 very short minutes:

"Socrates is wise because he admits he doesn't know everything."

"Socrates is wise as he accepts what he doesn't know."

"Socrates is an ironic guy that recognises his own flaws."

"The internet troll of Athens. Without the internet."

"Good teacher and philosopher as well as a classic instigator."

"Socrates is arrogant and cunning but yet awfully clever."

"Old, bearded, wise. But doesn't even know it."

"A wise man that knows himself to be a fool."

"Socrates. Wisest man in Athens. Knows nothing."

"Possessor of wisdom, through possession of ignorance."

"Described as wisest man, yet recognition not aware of everything."

I must say I am extremely happy with what they came up with. Some of these are very original, putting in their own words what we discussed in class and playing with grammar and meaning.

As no one endeavoured to tackle the second assignment, I wish to proof that - while perhaps not the best written sentence in history - it is possible:

"Many ways of being virtuous - still, all of them, virtuous."

And I will leave it there.